American Cancer Society Now Accepting Bitcoin and Altcoin Donations
American Cancer Society has recognized bitcoin (BTC) and other blockchain-based digital assets as legitimate payment methods. The 103-year-old voluntary health organization has now launched a cancer fund exclusively funded by crypto donations.
Fighting Cancer with Cryptos
It’s no news that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has further fueled a mass exodus from cash to digital payment options including cryptocurrencies, and the shift is partly responsible for the surge in the price of bitcoin and other cryptoassets since late 2020.
According to the American Cancer Society, an Atlanta-based health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic reduced its ability to fund cancer research by 50 percent, as it could not get enough cash donations to pursue its mission.
Against that backdrop, the organization has launched the Cancer Crypto Fund, to give donors more options to support its course. With its new Cancer Crypto Fund, the American Cancer Society is aiming to raise at least $1 million before the end of Q1 2021.
“The Cancer Crypto fund is seeking to raise at least $1,000,000 by early 2021 and will go directly to funding critical cancer research. COVID-19 reduced our ability to fund cancer research by 50 percent in 2020 – the lowest investment this century,” the organization wrote.
Incentivizing the Crypto Whales
As seen on its website, the supported cryptocurrencies include bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), litecoin (LTC), gemini dollar (GUSD), basic attention token (BAT), bitcoin cash (BCH) and chainlink (LINK).
In a bid to incentivize crypto whales to donate towards its course, the nonprofit corporation has made it clear that the first crypto donor to donate $250,000 in any of the supported digital currencies will have the opportunity to rename the fund.
What’s more, the organization has also hinted that those who donate up to $10k or more will appear on its Cancer Crypto Fund wall of honour.
“American Cancer Society recognizes the emergence of cryptocurrency and knows the impact cancer has across this and many other communities,” it added.
As detailed in its 2018 resource allocation data, the nonprofit corporation invested $147 million in cancer research, $269 million in patient support, $104 million in cancer prevention information and education, and $63 million was invested in cancer detection and treatment.
In related news, bitcoin and altcoins have continued to attract the attention from institutional investors this season and it appears the trend may continue for a very long time, if the latest comments by Cathie Wood, the CEO of ARK Investment Management, is anything to go by.
At press time, the price of bitcoin (BTC) is hovering around the $31,597 mark, a more than eight percent crash in the last seven days.
